Notes: Thanks again for the reviews guys! Sinc88 told me something new when I read that it was William Petersons idea for Catherine to leave the show the way she did, I honestly didn't know about that. Bet he wished it was Catherine Grissom had ended up with, haha ;). No, just kidding. Please enjoy guys! Lots of dialogue, lots of talking... Xxx.

Pushing my buttons.

"God, you look good!" Catherine excitingly hugged her friend as he gave her a slightly awkward hug back. "Yet still not that great with the hugging thing, I see."

Gil chuckled at the words of his former colleague and old friend. "Sorry. Just be glad you have the privilege of even being allowed to hug me."

She stuck out her tongue and said: "Yeah yeah, whatever. You want me to help with your bags?"

"No, don't be silly. It's fine."

They walked into the direction of the exit as Catherine said: "So, mister, this is quite something, huh… I haven't been hearing from you in ages, and suddenly I get an email and a phone call and then you're here. I get a feeling you're using me."

Gil could tell Catherine was joking but he still felt guilty; he hadn't been writing to Catherine for a long time and he knew she'd been missing him. "Sorry… I've been busy."

"I know, I know. When you go back again though I want you to write. If you don't, I'm never going to help you out again."

"I promise, Cath."

"Thanks, it's very much appreciated. So… Why didn't you want Sara to pick you up?" Her cellphone started ringing in the middle of the sentence, and when she saw it was Vartann, she decided to call him back a little later.

"Not interesting enough?" Gil raised his eyebrow when Catherine put her cell away and she chuckled. "Very interesting. Just want you to answer my question first."

"What question?"

"Gil!" Catherine rolled her eyes and unlocked her SUV, which was now in sight. He could be so dense sometimes, something she'd always been annoyed with, from the moment she met him. Now, it made her smile a bit as well. He hadn't changed a thing.

"Oh that. We're not doing so great lately. She wants me to move here, to be back with her again. And I have been thinking about moving back actually, but not necessarily for her. I just miss Vegas… The rollercoasters, the lab…. You and the guys, most of all. I realized Sara wasn't number one and I kind of figured that was wrong considering she's my wife… So, well… I wanted to talk to her. Not be all happy and excited about meeting her and then tell her I'm having doubts. Besides, it's always nice to see you."

They were now both in the car and Catherine started driving as she realized Gil had changed in some way. The way those words had been fluttering out of his mouth was insane. "Geez, Gil… You're being good with words, that's a little bit.. Scary."

"Yeah… Well.. I figured you would ask me that. Have been thinking about how to answer it since I boarded that plane."

When they almost reached Gil's home, she suddenly remembered Lou's phone call from half an hour earlier. "Hey, Gil… Can you grab my phone out of my purse?"

"You can't call while you're driving…"

"I know, we're almost there. Just do it, please."

Gil noticed the slightly irritated sound of Catherine's voice, that came out of nowhere, and decided to ignore it and just look for the phone. He found it almost immediately. "What do you want me to do with it?"

Catherine doubted for a second; she hadn't told Gil about her and Vartann yet, something he would find out when he'd see her phone. "Just.. Can you see if I've had any other calls or messages? I'll explain why later."

"Two missed calls, one message."

Catherine chuckled. "I was a little more interested in who they were from, Gil."

"Oh. Right. The calls are both from Lou Vartann and the message is from Lindsey. Lou Vartann? Detective Vartann? What is he calling you for?"

"That would be the explaining part I'd have to do."

At that moment, they were in front of Gil's townhouse. "Okay, Gil, you get your stuff. I'll open the door. I'll call first, explain after. Promise."

She ran into the house, leaving the door open so Gil could get in. It made Gil smile; he was happy to see she still had his key.

As soon as Catherine was inside, she dialed the "call" button. She was happy Vartann picked up immediately. "Lou! Hey, it's me… I'm so sorry for not calling you back!"

She fell down on Gil's couch, taking in the place that was still the same as she remembered as she heard him speak. "I was wondering where you were. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've missed you."

"I miss you too… I can come over, if you like…"

"Well, I'd love to. But I'm a little busy right now."

"With what?"

"Now you sound as if I never have anything to do besides spending time with you or working." Catherine could tell he was getting slightly annoyed, and she wondered why. "I'll tell you later. You know… I can come over in an hour? Is that okay? I really want to see you.."

"Me too. That's fine, I'll see you then. I love you." "I love you too, honey."

As Catherine put her phone away she found Gil in his doorway, watching her with an raised eyebrow and a look of amusement on his face. At that same time though, Lou sat down near his kitchen table and started to doubt. Why wouldn't she just tell him she went to pick up Grissom? It bothered him and even more so, annoyed him. On top of that, he'd started to doubt himself; maybe he hadn't head the conversation right at all.

In Gil's house, Gil walked over to Catherine and sat down. "So… You and the detective?"

"I'm surprised Sara never told you."

"We… Well, she… No offence, 'cause she likes you, but she doesn't necessarily like to talk about you, and any of the others as a matter of fact when we talk to each other. Always has a lot of other things she feels are more important… But, well, that's a whole other story. Tell me."

"Not much to tell, Gil. We just ran into each other outside of work once. I realized he was super handsome, but figured he was married. He called me a while later though, asked me to go out for coffee. It was all quite… Innocent, I guess. We spent a lot of time together but we never really thought of ourselves as a couple. Well, I didn't. I… I guess I was being a coward and was scared. Then he asked me to move in with him and I just completely freaked… That kind of blew up our relationship. But… Well, we've been doing good again. It's been quite a rocky relationship. But not in a bad way. Thought me more about myself and about him… And we're a lot more clear on what we are now, I think. I consider him my boyfriend, and I hope he considers me his girlfriend." Both chuckled. The two were more than happy to finally spend time together again like they did back in the day. Of course things had changed… But it all felt so familiar and it made both feel very happy.

About an hour later, Catherine knocked on Lou's door. It took him a while to open and Catherine happily flung into his arms and kissed him lightly. "Hey! Missed me?"

"Already told you I did, honey." He closed the door behind him and watched the redhead walk into his living room, her hips swaying. She looked good. He followed her and sat down next to her on the couch, where she immediately let her head rest on his shoulder. "God, I'm so tired."

"Yeah… So, what have you been doing?" He cut to the chase immediately, knowing he would get upset if he wouldn't. Catherine straightened herself and said: "Oh yeah, that. Well, it's a long story… And I probably should've told you earlier but I wasn't sure what Gil was planning on so I decided not to… After that email he wrote me he called, saying he was coming back to Vegas. Apparently, he and Sara are having some issues, and he figured he needed to come here to figure some stuff out. He asked me to pick him up from the airport, so I did. So that's where I've been for the last, like, three hours."

Catherine smiled and Lou wanted to do two things. He wanted to forget his jealousy and kiss her and take her to bed with him. On the other hand, he wanted to know more about Gil. He sensed there was a relationship between the two of them that he wasn't aware of and it bothered him more than he wanted him to.

"Okay. So… I don't mean to be mean, but why did you need to pick him up? He could've called a cab right?"

Catherine's eyes narrowed as she looked at Lou, who tried to look casual but who obviously wasn't that relaxed at all. "Why wouldn't I want to pick up my best friend from the airport?"

"Great friend who hasn't been in touch for years…"

His sarcastic comment made Catherine sit up straight again, breaking their touching bodies apart. "Lou, what's going on with you?"

"I don't get it, Catherine. Why is he so important to you? Your great friend, who you haven't been talking to for years."

"Don't diminish my relationship with Gil, Lou, you don't even know what you're talking about!" She got up and walked away from him.

Her harsh and fierce response had surprised him, yet he'd been so aware of pushing her buttons. He wasn't going to let her walk away though. He quickly followed her and grabbed her arm. "Then explain."

She shook his hand off of her and said: "Why do you act so jealous? He's not the man I'm dating, remember?"

"Not now." His response made Catherine raise her eyebrow. So that was his problem. Again. He was jealous. That jealousy would make their relationship difficult at times, Catherine had been aware of that. But this was even beyond jealousy. He didn't know anything about Gil and Catherine, yet the little thing she had told him not too long ago about his help apparently had been enough to stir up an entire mass of feelings that were completely unnecessary. "I think it's time you start thinking about why you're always being a jealous prick whenever I'm even talking to someone or about someone. You could've just asked me if Gil and I ever had sex 'cause it's obvious that that is what's bothering you."

Note: And trouble in paradise again... How do you feel about it? xx.